Inspired by Art

1
Inspired by Art

• Poetry Portfolio
• English II

2
Introductory Remarks on Poets and
PaintingsEver since the Roman poet Horace
set down in his Ars Poetica (c. 13 BC) the dictum
"ut pictura poesis"--"as is painting, so is
poetry"--the two arts have been wedded in the
critical mind. Poets and painters sometimes turn
to one another for inspiration, and the dialogue
has been mutually beneficial.
3
MORE Introductory Remarks The road runs
both ways, of courseSome interesting
questions arise as we contemplate the
relationship between the poem and the picture.
4
Explore the Connection between Poetry and Art

• Choose a piece of artwork that inspires you!
• Compose your own Original Poem
• Becomes part of your Portfolio

5
COMPONENTS

• ARTWORK of your choice
• Print of a Masterpiece
• Your own artwork
• Sculpture
• Photograph
• Must include a copy of it to fit in your Portfolio

6
COMPONENTS

• POEM of your own composition
• Any format
• Ballad
• Ode
• Acrostic
• Haiku
• Tanka
• Sonnet
• Limerick
• Any type
• Narrative
• Lyrical
• Dramatic

7
Be CREATIVE!
...be inspired by Art...
8
Examples
9
Number 1 by Jackson Pollock (1948)Nancy
Sullivan

• No name but a number.Trickles and valleys of
  paintDevise this mazeInto a game of
  MonopolyWithout any bank. IntoA linoleum on the
  floorIn a dream. IntoMurals inside of the
  mind.No similes here. NothingBut paint. Such
  purityTaxes the poem that speaksStill of
  something in a placeOr at a time.How to realize
  his questionLet alone his answer?

10
Examples
11
Cezanne's Ports Allen Ginsberg

• In the foreground we see time and lifeswept in a
  racetoward the left hand side of the
  picturewhere shore meets shore.
• But that meeting placeisn't representedit
  doesn't occur on the canvas.
• For the other side of the bayis Heaven and
  Eternity,with a bleak white haze over its
  mountains.
• And the immense water of L'Estaque is a
  go-betweenfor minute rowboats.

12
Examples
13
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Cross of Snow"

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's wife died tragically
  when an ember from the fireplace caught her dress
  on fire and burnt her so badly that she died a
  few days later. Longfellow tried to put out the
  fire, and it is said that his face was so badly
  disfigured that he grew the familiar long beard
  to hide the scars.
• Eighteen years later he was looking at a book
  with pictures of the far west and the mountains
  when he came across a picture much like the one
  reproduced here. The poem that resulted is "The
  Cross of Snow," one of his most poignant and
  touching sonnets.

14
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Cross of Snow"

• In the long, sleepless watches of the
  night,A gentle face--the face of one long
  dead--Looks at me from the wall, where round its
  head The night-lamp casts a halo of pale
  light.Here in this room she died, and soul more
  whiteNever through martyrdom of fire was ledTo
  its repose nor can in books be readThe legend
  of a life more benedight.There is a mountain in
  the distant WestThat, sun-defying, in its deep
  ravinesDisplays a cross of snow upon its
  side.Such is the cross I wear upon my
  breastThese eighteen years, through all the
  changing scenesAnd seasons, changeless since the
  day she died.

15
Girl at Sewing Machine

• Poem inspired by painting